The Ride of a Lifetime
by tiduscanfly
Summary: Taylor and Jay run into some deep trouble in the construction of a new Zanarkand
1. The Plan

This story IS kinda dull. I hope the next few chapters will be a BIT brighter. Cunno (sorry).

"Ranko!" Gipple called.

"I didn't do it!!!" The abnormally short blonde girl cried instantly. "It was Varcetia!"

"Oh, suuure." Gipple entered the room and took hold of her arm. "Blame it on your little sister."

"But it _wasn't _Ranko." A pretty brunette piped up.

"Oh, _really._" Gipple didn't sound convinced. "Who was it, then?"

"It was..." She paused for a moment, uncertainty laced in her blue eyes. "Gibble..." She whispered. Ranko stifled a laugh.

"Why don't you go home, Taylor?" Gipple suggested coldly.

"But... I like it here." Taylor pouted.

"Okay..." Gipple bit back a sharp retort. "Let me word that differently. GO HOME. NOW."

"Okay, okay." Taylor backed away. "Don't have a shoopuf." She turned and left the room. Ranko and her father listened to her leave.

Taylor grabbed a hold of an old stick of metal jutting out of the Besaid ruins. She hauled herself up onto the crumbling structure and looked around her. _I haven't been up here in a while..._ She carefully made her way over to the old chest and inspected its lock._ Good. _She thought. _No one's been in it. _She carefully picked the lock and looked down at the huge blade. _The caladbolg... I wonder what's so special about it..._ She ran her fingers along the dark blue surface. She could almost feel a strange power emanating from it. _Did dad really use this... but then why would it be here... _She pondered this as she had many times before. _Wait... didn't dad once mention... celestial weapons?_

"Jay!" Taylor called, ducking into the tent. Her younger brother wasn't there. "Jay!" She repeated. "Jay, where'd you go?"

"I'm right here." A young boy of about ten years old stumbled out of the bushes. "Could you be a little quieter? I was trying to work on something." He brushed some foliage off of his shirt. "What do you want, anyway?"

"Have you ever heard of the celestial weapons?" She blurted out.

"Yeah." Her brother stared at her suspiciously. "Why?" He asked warily.

"Do you think the caladbolg might be one of them?" She asked.

"Maybe..." Jay pondered this for a moment. "I need another look at it."

"Well..." Jay inspected the sword for the millionth time. "It could be..."

"You've said that already." Taylor growled irritably.

"Rao!" A familiar voice called from below. The siblings glanced down to see Ranko waving at them. "Ouin tyt fyc muugehk vun oui!"

_Your dad was looking for you!_

"How many times do we have to tell you, we don't know Al Bhed!" Taylor cried.

"Then learn it!" Ranko snapped. "Anyway, your dad was looking for you."

"He knows it was Sephie." Jay groaned. "What could he possibly want?"

"Don't ask me." Ranko shrugged and skipped off.

"Guess we'd better see what's up." Taylor sighed.

"Oh, great, it looks like Ranko found you." Taylor and Jay's father beckoned them closer. He was inspecting some sort of document in the fading afternoon light.

"What's that?" Jay asked curiously.

"Oh, just a blueprint." He turned from it to look them in the eyes. "Anyway." He began. "I have to head back to Zanarkand for a bit. Sounds like Jayla really screwed stuff up. So I thought you two might want to come along." Their eyes lit up.

"For real?" Taylor gasped. He nodded.

"But..." Jay looked at his father quizzically. "Dad... I thought Mom didn't want us to go."

He grinned mischievously. "So don't tell her." He said simply.

"You're the best, Dad!" Taylor cried, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Just one thing." He resumed when she let go of him. "You can't tell anyone I'm taking you." He shot Taylor a quick look. "Not even Ranko. And _especially _not Yuna."


	2. How I Feel

"Taylor!" A short blonde girl ran up to her. "Ouin cdab-tyt fyc muugehk vun oui. Ra cyet ed fyc esbundyhd. Oui't paddan kad kuehk!"

_Your step-dad was looking for you. He said it was important. You'd better get going!"_

"E tuh'd ihtancdhyt Al Bhed!" Taylor hissed irritably, using one of the few Al Bhed phrases she knew.

_I don't understand Al Bhed!_

"Cunno." Varcetia apologized. "Forget sometimes." She admitted. "Step-dad looking for you. Said it important."

_Sorry_

Taylor ran off towards the village. _I should know that 'win ti fii mooge van we' phrase by now, I hear it so much. Maybe I should just learn Al Bhed. It would make my life so much easier... Dad managed to do it, so why can't I?_ She skidded toa halt in front of the temple. _What could he possibly want? _She stepped inside and scanned the open room. She spotted her step-father talking to her mother off to one side. She strode over and tapped on his shoulder to capture his attention.

"Oh, Taylor!" He smiled. "Just who I wanted to see! Can I see you for a moment?" He asked.

"That _is _why I came." She grumbled. Something about him made her angry. He was a cheerful, lovable man who was kind-hearted and always forgiving, yet she resented him. Perhaps it was because she loved her father, who had loved her mother, who now loved this man. Perhaps it was because she had to call him "Dad", or maybe because of the half brother and sister she and Jay had to share a mother with. For whatever reason, she couldn't bring herself to like the man.

Yuna quietly left them and went to entertain herself by switching the spheres in the cloister of trials.

"Taylor." He began quietly once she was gone. "I know you don't like me. I don't know why, but I need to know how I might possibly change that. As your father, I-"

"_You're not my father._" She hissed. He sighed.

"I'm sorry you-" He tried to resume, but she interrupted again.

"There is _nothing _you can do to change how I feel. I love my Dad. But I will _never_ love you." She turned and stormed out before he could say another word.

"Why do you look so mad?" Ranko asked, looking curiously at her cousin

(she's not exactly her cousin, their mothers are cousins, but I'm just gonna' say that cause I'm not really sure what the heck they are) "You look like you could rip a shoopuf in half."

"I told retarted step-dad I would never love him." She grunted. "Which I won't. Because I hate him and RANKO I can't not tell anymore!" She exploded.

"W-what?" Ranko stammered.

"Dad's taking us to Zanarkand!" She blurted out.

"_Tidus _is?" Ranko gasped. Taylor nodded. "When?" She demanded.

"Three days." She replied excitedly. "But you can't tell _anyone_, okay?"

"Okay." Ranko promised. "But I thought Yuna didn't want oui to go."

"We...?" Taylor stared at her for a few seconds. "Oh! Ranko, stop doing that!"

"Sorry." Ranko said. "When you spend most of your childhood speaking only Al Bhed it's hard to stop."

"You're telling _me_?" Taylor laughed. "Your sister keeps forgetting I'm not Al Bhed. And I can hardly understand her when she does! Anyway, Mom doesn't want us to go, so Dad just told us not to tell her."

"Are you crazy?" Ranko gasped. "Your Mom's the High Summoner! She's like... the most important person in Spira! He can't just _take _you!"

"Sin doesn't want me to go either." She pointed out, referring to the hated step-father. "I want to see him mad." She grinned at the thought.

"Why... do you hate him so much?" Ranko asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure." Taylor sighed. "I thought of a few things it could be. Like how he wants me to call him 'Dad'. He thinks he can replace my real father. He actually wanted to adopt us. But Mom wasn't sure and Dad refused. Or maybe it's just that... I want to see my parents together, but I can't because he's there."

"I feel your pain." A new voice sounded behind them. Taylor jumped to her feet to see her father leaning on a large rock nearby.

"D-dad!" She searched for words. He made his way over to her and threw an arm around her shoulders.

"Notice I never got married. 'Cause I never moved on. I never wanted to. The best days of my life were when it was the four of us. You were two. Jay was a baby. Your mom would sit on the docks with him and talk to your mom." He nodded at Ranko. "That's when you learned to blitz." He smiled at the memory. But then he sighed. "You were only three..." He shook his head as if to clear it. "Anyway, I figured you would tell her." He moved his arm and flicked his thumb towards Ranko. "You've never kept anything from her. Well, except for when you were dating her boyfriend's br-"

"Daaaaaad!" She whined.

"Anyway..." He turned to Ranko. "E vekinat Taylor fuimt damm oui, cu E sekrd yc famm pnehk oui ymuhk yc famm. Ruf ypuid ed?"

_I figured Taylor would tell you, so I might as well bring you along as well. How about it?_

"Naymmo?" She gasped "Mega... vun naym? Sa? Kuehk du Zanarkand??"

_Really///Like... for real? Me? Going to Zanarkand?_

"Oab." Tidus nodded. "E's cina Rikku fuimth'd seht, pid E's hud cu cina ypuid Gipple. Zicd syga cina oui tu y paddan zup dryh Taylor yd gaabehk calnadc. Ed fuimt pa runnepma ev Yuna vuiht uid E fyc dygehk oui kioc yht ryt so rayt, huf fuimth'd ed? Cu... bnuseca hud du damm?"

_Yep///I'm sure Rikku wouldn't mind, but I'm not so sure about Gippal. Just make sure you do a better job than Taylor at keeping secrets. It would be horrible if Yuna found out I was taking you guys and had my head, now wouldn't it? So... promise not to tell._

"This is SO not fair." Taylor grumbled, crossing her arms angrily. "Guys! E tuh'd ihtancdhyt Al Bhed!"

_I don't understand Al Bhed_

"Learn it." Her father replied simply. "Cu... tu oui fyhhy' ku?"

_So... do you wanna' go?_

"Ir... Oac! Oac!" Ranko replied eagerly. "Yht E fuh'd damm yhouha! E bnuseca!"

_Uh... Yes! Yes!///And I won't tell anyone! I promise!_

He nodded, satisfied. "Good. Then we'll leave on Wednes-"

"Wait!" Taylor interrupted. "Ranko's coming?"

"Yep!" She said proudly.

_Caladbolg... is it even in here? Maybe... well, Dad did say there was a celestial weapon on Besaid, and he had used it, so it MUST be the Caladbolg... _Jay studied the faded old book. _Well, this is no help at all. _He closed the book and ducked out of the tent, only to run into his father. It had been two days since they had arranged to leave for Zanarkand, and he was getting pretty excited. "Hey, Dad!" He greeted him cheerfully. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure thing." Tidus grinned. He entered the tent. "What's up?"

"Is the... caladbolg... a celestial weapon?" He asked hesitantly. His father laughed.

"Is that what you two were up to?" He didn't wait for an answer. "But, yeah, it is. I found and activated it when I was seventeen, way back when I was your mother's gaurdian."

"Wait..." Jay stared at him. "What do you mean, you activated it?"

"Well, celestial weapons are worthless until activated." Tidus explained. "You have to find the crest and sigil for the weapon in order for it to become 'legendary'. But we had to do the weirdest things to get those sigils... The crests were easy, they were just scattered through Spira. But the sigils... they didn't make much sense to me. For mine, I had to race chocobos and reach the finish line of a race in less than a second. Crazy if you ask me. Lulu had to dodge 200 lightening bolts IN A ROW on the Thunder Plains. Talk about suicide."

"So... the caladbolg is an activated legendary weapon?" Jay thought of what this might mean.

"It is, but don't get any ideas. I still know how to use that thing." Tidus warned.

"Taylor!" Jay ran after his sister. "Taylor, wait up!"

"Huh?" Taylor stopped abruptly. "Oh, hey, Jay. What's up?"

"I talked to Dad about the Caladbolg." He explained hurriedly. "He told me it IS a celestial weapon!"

"Really?" His sister gasped. "Seriously?"

"Yep." Jay said proudly. "Anyway, you should probably get youself ready to go, we leave tomorrow before dawn."

"I know, I know." She reassured him. "I was just going to play some blitzball with Vidina. I'll be ready, don't worry."

Ranko quietly slipped out of the village, glancing back every few seconds to make sure there was no one following her. She quietly sprinted down the path, but promptly caught her foot on a fallen branch. She fell to her knees with a muttered curse. _I can't see anything in this dark. _She hurried to her feet.

"Frana yna oui kuehk?" A young voice startled her. She spun around to see her little sister glaring at her through the dark.

_Where are you going?_

"Ir... E... E fyc zicd... dygehk y nih..." Ranko stammered

_Uh... I... I was just... taking a run..._

"srs." Varcetia lookied at her suspiciously. "Oui'na ib du cusadehk..."

_mhm///You're up to something..._

"Hu!" Ranko argued. "E-E's hud! E fyc zicd kuehk du zuk uh dra paylr!" She began walking swiftly towards the top of the rise before Varcetia could question her further.

_No!///I-I'm not! I was just going to jog on the beach!_

"Ranko!" Taylor quietly greeted her. "What took you so long?"

"Varcetia followed me." She hissed. Taylor glanced over her cousin's shoulder, her eyes huge.

"Dad!" She breathed.

"I see her, I see her." Tidus whispered. He walked over to Varcetia. "We were going to fix up that old part of the beach for Vidina. You know how much he hates it when he's trying to blitz. We wanted to do it really early, so it would be a surprise for him in the morning when he heads over." He said quietly.

"I not idiot." She growled, not bothering to lower her voice. "Want to know what you doing. I sick of being left out! You not 'taking a run' or 'fixing up beach'. You up to something. I want in." Tidus sighed.

"You are persistent, aren't you?" He glanced at their little cowd. "Alright, I suppose you can come along to Zanarkand."

"Zanarkand?" Varcetia gasped. "Oui'na kuehk du Zanarkand?" She was obviously excited

"Umr'd Eord Yuna kyrre' sod ayoh niet yww yh mylidnurk?" Tidus chuckled at this reply.

_You're going to Zanarkand?///_ _Isn't Aunt Yuna gonna' cut your head off or something?_

"Then we should get going. I can deal with my head being cut off when we get back." He headed down the path, gesturing for them to follow.


End file.
